The present disclosure relates to computer-implemented production simulations, including simulations of injection molding.
Injection molding is a common manufacturing method in modern industry. In a typical injection molding application, thermoplastic, thermosetting, or elastomer material is heated and melted and then piped or injected under pressure into the voids of an empty die or mold. The molten material injected into the mold is then cooled so as to permanently harden in the shape of the hollow mold cavity. The cooled and set material is then removed from the mold, forming the near finished product, piece, or part in the shape of the mold. Injection molding can be an efficient method of production in that it typically allows manufacturers to reuse one or more dies and reproduce, with precision, the products formed in the die. Typically, the initial design and manufacture of the mold is quite costly. Much is invested to design and perfect a mold that will be re-used, in some instances, millions of times over the course of its life. Consequently, injection molding is often characterized by high efficiencies of scale, the return on investment for a particular die dependent on the durability and lasting precision of the die. As a result, typical injection mold cavity design is at the same time a critically important, but difficult and costly process.
Thousands of polymer materials exist capable of being used in injection molding applications. In some instances, the material that is to be used in an injection molding application can even influence the design of a given mold cavity and vice versa. For instance, some high viscosity materials, in their molten form, may perform poorly in a mold cavity machined with narrow gates, runners, and cavity voids. Additionally, the geometry of the mold cavity can also influence the physical properties of plastic parts manufactured using the mold. Indeed, two parts having identical dimensions and made from the same thermoplastic material but molded under different conditions, with different gate locations, for instance, can possess different stress and shrinkage levels. As a consequence, mold cavity engineers often seek to optimize a mold cavity design in order to produce the most commercially-acceptable product.